All I gave you is gone (Tumbled like it was stone)
by TitaniaSarys
Summary: Set 3 years after Fallen Kingdom - FALLEN KINGDOM SPOILERS - As the first dinosaur roars could be heard, Zia turned to her. "So what's the result?" Claire frowned. "What?" "Your test." The color drained from Claire's face and she swallowed before answering. "Positive."
1. Chapter 1

_MAY 2021_

 _"_ _We are informing you that the West Side highway from Sacramento to Redding is currently blocked due to the passage of a group of Triceratops. Caution is advised and drivers are invited to take an alternate…"_

Owen changed the station on the radio to prevent himself from hitting the wheel in frustration with his closed fist. Maisie squirmed on the backseat, sitting across from Owen so she could see him better.

"We'll get there soon Owen, don't worry," she said and smiled reassuringly despite the fact that she herself had a hard time believing it.

But Owen smiled in return when he looked at her in the rearview mirror then focused on driving and trying his best not to throw them in a ditch. "I know, sweetheart. We're just going to take another route." He swerved to the right, catching a smaller road.

They didn't speak for the next fifteen minutes and it hurt Owen to realize that if Claire had been with them, she would have tried to make some small talk to avoid this kind of awkward silence. The radio was now a mix of static noises and bits of songs that were cut every single time they hit a bump in the road, making the whole care lift up ever so slightly. Maisie used to enjoy those kinds of bumps and Owen always made sure to hit them to make her laugh, much to Claire's disapproval, as she held on tightly on the headboard. But now, both of them were too lost in their own thoughts to even notice those bumps.

Despite the fact that Owen knew that returning to the DPG wasn't a good idea, he could not have predicted what would happen once Claire left. She was the president of the Dinosaur Protection Group, of course she had to go back at some point and she had spent an entire year with just him and Maisie (while occasionally meeting with Zia and Franklin and seeing Karen and the boys). It was high time for her to go back to her work, to try to salvage the unsalvageable.

Claire made it look so easy. She came in, called a few people, started organizing work sheets and meetings and things were good for a while. A few dinosaurs had been shot due to how dangerous they were, like the Baryonyx during the first few months following what everyone called the Release. Claire had changed the focus of her association a bit and while her goal remained the protection of dinosaurs, she also wanted people to be aware of them and to know how to protect themselves. He had seen so many of her campaigns on the internet (thanks to Franklin), guidelines on what to do when you encountered that type of dinosaur or another and the government actually tried to listen.

Another year had passed and they were about to box-in the T-Rex (Blue remained hidden, the clever girl, and only hunted middle-sized animals from time to time) when the Indoraptor made its return. Or rather, another genetic hybrid that Henry Wu had probably created. More hybrids appeared from that moment on and the whole continent quickly fell in red alert. People started buying bunkers and end-of-the-world supplies like it was Black Friday every day.

All the work Claire had done was thrown out the window the moment the first hybrid massacred a hundred people in a small town in Nevada. And just like that, the end of the world was upon them. _Again_.

Claire had gone ahead to one of the camps that had been built, where people prepared expeditions to capture those dinosaurs. A lot of different people worked those camps: military, hired guns, veterinarians… Zia had made it her permanent residence and Franklin only dropped by. It seemed to be all about survival and Claire wanted to make sure the people shooting at the dinosaurs knew the difference between the real ones from Isla Nublar (well, as real as they could be) and the genetic hybrids. The government just gave the green light to shoot on sight any hybrid, but allowed the other ones to be spared, seeing that very little carnivores were left.

Claire had been at that camp in California for about a month when Owen said screw the world and wanted to meet her. One month with her was too long. He didn't like how exposed she was, how people treated her and how little her efforts were appreciated. Not to mention the danger she was putting herself in by being in the field. But things had changed and she had been forced to shoot a hybrid Allosaurus one time. She also wore boots everyday now and knew how to handle a gun (Owen had also showed Maisie how to shoot one just in case). Things were definitely changing.

Owen and Maisie were on their way to help her out, the camps could always use more hands to stop the proliferation of the hybrids while the government investigated and tried to stop whoever was making them. To Owen, it all felt like a giant field test, as if someone had released those hybrids on the population on purpose to see if they could be used in warfare.

The silence in the car only grew as they made their way to the camp, changing roads whenever Owen could see trouble in the distance. People were wary of dinosaurs in general now and who could blame them when a Triceratops came rushing through their garden and almost trampled them. Owen had seen his fair share of people killing dinosaurs in smaller cities where the government laws weren't always respected and where the police couldn't do much against animals like that. He lost count of the carcasses he saw on the side of the road, of the car wrecks that had horn-like or teeth-like holes in them, of the remains of people he saw. He did his best to shield Maisie from all that horror but despite her PTSD, the girl was doing surprisingly well.

Owen took out his phone and called Claire, but as expected, it rang but she didn't pick up. They were fifteen miles from the camp when they got stuck on a closed off bridge and had to take yet another detour.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire had to admit, she was easily frightened before she took the job at Jurassic World. She had never worked with wild animals before and she almost cried out in fear the first time she locked eyes with the T-Rex back in the days. Her time as operations manager at Jurassic World had trained her nerves, but she could never have been ready for the Indominus Rex and even less for the Indoraptor. She shivered every single time she saw sharp teeth or pointy tails, but nothing scared her more than the item she was holding in her hands.

She had had suspicions for a few days but she never found the time to check. A few Gallimimus had roamed inside the camp three days prior and she was glad to have been able to do her job and convince the hired guns at the camp to tranquilize them and send them to the nearest evacuated zoo that could welcome them until they knew what to do with them. Two day ago, a hybrid had come so close to the edge of the camp that almost everyone had gone to capture it and she had spent the last two days giving a hand to Zia, their resident veterinarian who also served as a doctor whenever the official ones were too busy (Zia had stopped counting the number of wounds on humans she had sewed but she didn't complain).

And now that she had five minutes for herself, Claire almost wished she didn't have them. She anxiously waited for Zia to come back into her tent (the only practical thing they could set up in the camp) and did her best not to bite her fingernails. The veterinarian was just out for a couple of minutes to help Franklin with crates of cables. The young man, although he had blatantly refused to come to the camp at first, was now one of the essential people around, thanks to his electrical and network skills. Just last week he had prevented an electricity shortage and rewired the generators.

Claire jumped out of her seat as soon as Zia entered her tent. She opened her mouth but Zia shushed her quickly and grabbed her by the arm, leading her outside. "It's bad Claire, we got to go!"

It wasn't unusual for the camp to evacuate every few days while dinosaurs roamed about and if they really couldn't stay, they moved the camp. It was expensive, which is why they slept in tents and had movable power generators. It felt too much like a camp of apocalypse survivors to Claire.

They saw people running around as if the whole forest was on fire. Car honks were blaring, orders were being shouted and people seemed in frenzy but none of them was carrying bags. "What's going on?" Claire asked, letting go of the item she wanted to show Zia.

"There's a herd of Stygis a mile out and they're closing in on the camp fast. We won't be able to catch them. Besides they seemed to be pursued by something bigger. The beefcake leader thinks it's a hybrid, the big kind. They're thinking T-Rex hybrid."

Claire shuddered and followed Zia, her predicament long forgotten. "As long as we stay clear of the main routes, we should be fine." Claire could see the other campers had already cleared a path through the camp, the cars being pushed back. A low rumble started to shake the ground and Claire followed Zia, climbing on top of a truck where other people were already gathered. All the hired guns had their weapons trailed on the entrance of the camp that Claire couldn't see, ready to shoot the hybrid.

She sat between Franklin and Zia and waited. The ground shook more and more with every passing seconds and Franklin was grumbling something so low, Claire couldn't quite catch it. As the first dinosaur roars could be heard, Zia turned to her. "So what's the result?"

Claire frowned. "What?"

"Your test."

The color drained from Claire's face and she swallowed before answering. "Positive."

It should have happened another time, in another place and especially under other circumstances. But no, karma was a bitch and the universe decided to screw her life over again and again. But Zia's face lit up just enough to make Claire smile a little. "Well, whatever you decide, congratu…"

She was interrupted by the Stygimolochs that brutally entered the camp and trampled the ground through the clear path. They had reproduced with Pachys or someone made more in a lab because Claire was fairly certain there weren't that many in the Lockwood's mansion. Or maybe Wu had created Stygi hybrids as well but they all seemed normal to her. Once the seven Stygis (Pachys? She couldn't tell since they were running so fast) crossed, she heard gunshots and the hired guns took care of the hybrid that was following the herd.

Another hour passed before they were cleared to regain their tents and the repair crew set off to work on the damage the Stygis had done. "You should call Owen," Zia said and Claire nodded.

She was planning on doing that, but she just didn't know exactly what to say. Something like this shouldn't be told on the phone, but she could hardly keep this secret for herself. Especially since it concerned Owen as well. So she went back into her tent and grabbed the satellite phone on her desk (she didn't even try to have signal with her cell).

Owen picked up immediately. "Claire! Are you okay? What's going on?"

"I'm good. We just saw a bunch of Stygis, but everyone is fine, no injuries this time."

"We're coming, we're just a few miles away. Had to take a detour."

"Owen…" she swallowed hard. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Well…" she scratched the back of her neck and sat on her desk. "I'm… I'm pregnant Owen."

He gasped at the other end of the line but before he could answer, the roof of Claire's tent suddenly gave way and something big pushed her desk, making her tumble to the ground, unable to answer when Owen's panicked voice called her name.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm pregnant Owen."

Owen almost dropped his phone. He actually had to stop the car to wrap his mind around the idea. "Pregnant? As in a baby?"

The moment he asked that there was a crash on the other end of the line. He heard Claire let out a startled scream, some noises as if things broke and then more crunching noises. "Claire? Claire!" The call didn't end, but all Owen could hear were disturbing noises that made his blood run cold.

He swiftly gave the phone to Maisie and started driving again, eyes set in a firm line, never leaving the road while he sped on the dusty path, overpassing the speeding limit.

He couldn't believe it. They were going to be parents again! They had managed to find Iris and had then adopted Maisie with the older woman's blessing three years prior, but Maisie wasn't a baby. Owen had no idea how to take care of a newborn. But he didn't really have the time to think about that because his mind was focused on Claire. After a minute or so, Maisie put the phone down, the call having been ended from the other side.

When they eventually arrived at camp, it looked as if a hurricane had gone through it. Tents were torn and thrown to the side, cars were overturned and crates had been gutted. Owen stopped the car a few feet away from the entrance of the camp, grabbed his rifle and told Maisie to stay as close to him as possible.

Owen could see dinosaurs footprints on the ground, some rather small, probably the Stygis Claire had mentioned, but there were three sets of footprints that belonged to a much larger animal. Owen could clearly see the claws, and judging from the size of the footprint, he guessed the size of the animal. It was slightly smaller than a T-Rex, but way bigger than a simple Gallimimus.

After a few minutes of wandering carefully around the broken camp, they encountered some people. Half of them were injured and the others seemed as confused as Owen himself. He walked to a bulky man that had a handgun holstered to his thigh and who remained calm.

"Have you seen Claire Dearing?" Owen asked while he helped the man carry a woman out of a crushed car.

"If she's not here, she's with the others."

"The others?"

They put the woman down and Maisie held her hand while someone else was pressing a piece of fabric on the wound on her leg. The bulky man pointed to the other side of the camp. "Bloody beasts were hiding in the bushes while we were busy repairing the damage the Stygimolochs did. We got the one chasing the Stygis, but there were three others. They waited until we came closer and then they rampaged through the camp."

Owen was very careful about his vocabulary when he spoke with people, most of them not being able to make the different between a Baryonyx and a T-Rex. But this guy seemed to know his dinos. "What did they look like?"

The guy seemed to think for a moment. "Like a Baryonyx, elongated snout and all but it had scales so thick we couldn't pierce through it. Maybe they crossed it with an Ankylosaurus, I don't know, but the bloody thing wasn't natural."

"What about the others?" From what Claire had told him, there were at least a hundred people in this camp, not the twenty he could see.

"Some of us tried to hide; others ran away with the jeeps. If the red mane I saw enter one of the jeeps was hers, then she ran away with the others." He sighed. "It was smarter to run away from those monsters. I'm lucky to be alive."

Owen patted him on the back and was about to go back to his car, when the bulky man grabbed him by the arm. "I've seen footage of the Indoraptor and boy I can tell you, those things were scarier. Be careful."


	4. Chapter 4

Claire didn't really have time to process things.

One minute, she was anxiously waiting for Owen's reaction, her heart beating so fast she feared it might burst out of her chest, the next her roof collapsed and she was thrown forward. Luckily, she didn't hurt herself and fell on her hands and knees with a yelp, while her desk was knocked to the side.

Her blood froze when she got out from beneath her tent and saw what had pushed her.

Just from the way it was standing, she realized the animal in front of her was a hybrid of two drastically different species. It was standing on two legs, but was bent forward too much to be a pure Baryonyx, as if something heavy rested on its back. The scales on its stomach were a violent shade of brown and were falling off at certain places, almost like a snake about to shed its skin. The long snout reminded her immediately of the Baryonyx she had encountered with Franklin three years ago. But its back was all wrong, as if rocks had been growing out of it.

The hybrid roared at her and clicked its front claws together, ready to pounce, when a jeep rammed into it. "Come on, get in!" Zia yelled as she opened the left door of the car and extended her hand towards Claire. Franklin was trembling behind the wheel. Claire didn't hesitate and climbed aboard the jeep, forgetting her belongings in her collapsed tent. Once she was inside and the door was shut, Franklin drove back a few feet just as the hybrid was getting to its feet.

"Oh my god! How can this thing be alive! I just rolled it over!" Franklin yelled.

"You just nudged it. Now drive or it's gonna eat us!" Zia ordered.

Franklin huffed, but did as he was told and pressed on the gas pedal. The car lurched; almost making Claire hit her head on the roof. They followed the other jeeps into the forest, but the hybrid was on their tail. The car in front of them was swiped away by another hybrid that looked exactly like the first one and Franklin screamed.

They managed to drive almost a mile away from camp before the hybrid knocked the car over, pushing it to the right, making it skidder on the forest floor until it hit a tree. Franklin groaned as his head hit the side of the car, blood trickling down his temple and cheek. Zia cursed as she pushed him to the shotgun seat and tried to reignite the car. The hybrid was closing in and it managed to rip out Claire's door before the engine came to life. Zia yelled triumphantly as she drove away from the hybrid, only to be knocked to the left by another one.

The car spun and spun for so long Claire thought she was going to be sick. It only stopped on the edge of a slope covered in leafs and kindling. The hybrid ripped out the second back door as Zia grabbed a moaning but barely conscious Franklin out of the way. Then it turned its head towards Claire, its eyes gleaming maliciously before it dove inside the car, crocodile-like maws wide open and threatening to bite her. Claire jumped back in fright and fell out of the jeep, rolling down the slope.

Another jeep drove by the hybrids, catching their attention for a slip second, allowing Zia to start the car again. The veterinarian looked down at the slope but she couldn't see Claire anymore and there was no way they could stay there and wait for her. They would drive down around the slope once they lost the hybrids and would find her. It pained Zia to do this, but she whirled the car around and followed the other vehicle, praying that Claire was alright.


	5. Chapter 5

Her rolling was stopped when her arms hit something hard like a rock. Groaning, Claire remained on her back and tried to lie as still as possible, eyes looking for the top of the slope she had just tumbled down. But she couldn't see it, nor could she see a hybrid coming down after her. The engine roars and dinosaur groans were disappearing in the distance as an immense feeling of loneliness fell on Claire.

She winced when she moved her left arm and noticed it was bleeding. It didn't feel like a fracture, but the cut wasn't pretty. As soon as she tried to sit, her head started to spin and she had to lie down for a while. "If we both get out of here alive, I'm definitely keeping you, little one," she said to her stomach.

It proved particularly tricky to tie a piece of her shirt around her bleeding arm, but she somehow made it and stood up. It was getting dark and it would take her a long time to climb back up that slope. She also didn't know if all the hybrids had followed the cars or if some remained behind. For all she knew, she could encounter one of them around the next tree and get eaten. But she had to move. She couldn't just stand there and wait for someone to come or something to feast on her.

She walked for what felt like hours. She was surprisingly fine for someone who just rolled down a steep slope after getting chased by hybrid dinosaurs and learning they were expecting. Owen and her had always used protection, but now that she thought about it, there was this one time about eight weeks ago where both of them weren't sure if the condom had ripped or not. And Claire had been busy enough to not dwell on it during the next two months or even to notice her lack of period. It had happened before, especially when she was moving around a lot, planes and all, that her cycle wasn't always regular therefore she hadn't thought much about it.

But she never would have thought it would lead to this.

She sighed as she leaned heavily on a tree trunk. It was completely dark now and she could barely see three feet in front of her. But she couldn't just stop to rest or sleep, despite how exhausted, thirsty and hungry she was. She figured that climbing in a tree to sleep was out of the question, because A, it would prevent her from running in case something chased her and B, she was more likely to fall once she fell asleep, she wasn't a monkey.

She wished Owen was there. She was certain he'd have a brilliant idea to get them out of there or at least, to make sure they survived the night. "Looks like it's just the two of us," she said to her stomach, as if talking to it was perfectly normal. It was either this or she'll lose her mind walking in circles in the dark forest. She was also probably making one hell of a noise that was bound to attract predators, if her scent hasn't already done that.

After more walking and when her legs couldn't hold her up anymore, she stopped and sat down against a tree. Her legs burned, her arm stung and she was starting to see dark spots around her vision, if that was even possible seeing it was already pretty dark around her. That's when she heard a distant noise that resembled that of a river. Claire decided to push herself a little more, to at least reach the river so she could drink. There was a high probability other animals were going to the river to drink as well and she wasn't really keen on the idea of facing a dinosaur, even a herbivore, but she decided to risk it. She was already exposed as it was, a riverside wouldn't change much to her chances of survival.

Besides, if she could just remember where the river was on the map of the forest surrounding the camp, she might be able to go back. Or she'd go the opposite way if she mistook directions.

She was almost dragging her sorry feet towards the river when she spotted the clear water. It was luminescent in the moonlight, shining like a river of pure silver. The banks seemed solid enough, made of earth and stone and not the soft sand that would make her sink. She bent down and drank as much as she could before her fatigue took over once again.

But just as she was sitting back and thinking what a good spot to sleep this riverbank would be, the sounds of the stream appeasing her tired mind, she heard something move in the bushes behind her, leaves rustling and branches cracking. She just had time to gasp before a scaled snout appeared, teeth glistening in the moonlight as the dinosaur snarled.


	6. Chapter 6

She should have seen it coming, she knew.

As soon as she would let her guard down, something was bound to find her. She wasn't expecting to survive, she knew the odds weren't in her favor, but somehow, deep down inside, she had hoped she'd survive and had tried to persuade herself that she would. Maybe it was the baby inside her that made her feel like this or maybe it was just another reason to keep fighting, to not give up and curl on the ground, waiting for something to come and eat her. Owen and Maisie were another reason, just like Karen and the boys were as well. And maybe Claire's personality and hell, even survival instinct were part of that reason too.

She didn't know and truthfully, she didn't care, seeing as she was about to get eaten by the very thing she had come to defend in the first place.

The snout came out of the bushes, so quickly followed by the rest of the body that Claire had to blink. She instinctively tried to get back, her hands reaching the edge of the rock she was sitting on, her back to the stream. The dinosaur snarled and came closer, growling but not as loud as Claire would expect. It felt more like a warning than a threat. But then again, in the world they were living in, Claire wasn't sure how thick or thin the limit between those two was.

But she couldn't have predicted that the very dinosaur that would find her would be Blue. The Velociraptor looked healthy and didn't seem to have lost a pound or gained any. It was as if they were back at the Lockwood's mansion, with Blue only feet away from her but this time Owen wasn't there to stand between them.

Claire didn't really know what to do. She wasn't Owen, she didn't have that kind of connection with the raptor. She didn't move at first, watching Blue and letting her come closer. She was still as impressive as ever, even more up close and just as deadly. But again, it didn't seem threatening and Claire knew for a fact that, if Blue's only goal was to kill her, she'd already be dead.

She didn't move until the raptor was mere inches from her, its head slowly approaching her head and Claire's breath caught in her throat. Ever so slowly, Claire raised her hand and Blue growled at first, but at the same time, she didn't bite her or even move away. She sniffed Claire's hand and almost purred before she pulled back, just like that.

Claire couldn't believe it. True, she had watched Owen work with Blue, had seen the videos and everything, but she never would have believed it could actually work for her. She also remembered something Owen had said about the fact that Claire had seemed protective of Zach and Grey back in Jurassic World, that maybe Blue could see that and wouldn't want to attack a mother defending her young (even if they technically weren't hers). Owen had then also joked about the fact that they probably were sending pheromones at each other, and that he wouldn't be surprised Blue considered Claire to be the alpha-mate.

Her small victory didn't last long though, as Blue didn't leave like Claire expected her to. Instead, she drank a good five feet away from Claire before she looked back up at her again and made this high-pitched noise, the same kind she had used when she called her sisters. Claire had no idea what it meant, but she shuddered: it sounded too much like some of the noises the Indoraptor made. Claire kind of hoped Blue would get bored and would leave, but the raptor approached her again, gently pressed her snout against her shoulder as if to push her and got back to her place five feet away by the river. It seemed to Claire that she wanted her to follow her. Or maybe she was crazy, which could also be the case.

But if she had to chose between staying behind, all alone in this forest with potential lethal hybrids roaming about with no real idea on how to get back to camp, or go with a raptor that didn't seem to want to eat her and could potentially defend her, or at least, chase the smaller dinosaurs away, her choice was quickly made.

She stood up, wobbled a little on her feet and followed Blue, trying to walk confidently so she wouldn't look weak, but also without making any brutal movement so she wouldn't startle the raptor and get eaten or make it look like she was challenging her. Blue watched her for a couple of seconds, before she jogged a few feet farther down the river, in the direction Claire was thinking about following to reach the camp. Then she waited for Claire to catch up, her tail swinging almost impatiently.

It was going to be a long night and Claire hoped that Blue wouldn't suddenly decide to change her mind and eat her.


	7. Chapter 7

Eight hours.

It had been eight hours since anyone saw Claire. Owen could barely contain his rage when he found the others and learned what happened. He had arrived with Maisie at the camp less than an hour after the attack and had done his best to fight against the hybrids. One of them had been impaled on a tree when it was pushed off a cliff. Another one had been shot in the jaw, one of its only weak points, but the third one had been particularly tricky to kill. It took them the better part of seven hours to track it down, to shoot it, its armor making it almost unbeatable and to not let it escape once it realized it could not win.

In the end, Owen was exhausted, he was covered in mud, blood and sweat and he was pissed beyond measure. The tail of the hybrid had thrown him into a tree, resulting in a cut along his left shoulder, but it was nothing a couple of stitches wouldn't fix. He patiently sat among the debris of the camp while someone sewed him up and wrapped his shoulder in gauze. As soon as it was over, he made his way towards the place where Zia, Maisie and Franklin were sitting and cleaning each other up after all the chase, Franklin having a nasty gash on his forehead.

Owen was about to punch Zia when she told him she had abandoned Claire.

But he realized that, despite the fact that she wasn't a kid, she didn't have any other choice. She had told him the story, had even shown him the place on their way back, the slope where Claire had disappeared. So instead of hitting her, he yelled at her and walked away.

Owen was torn between going after Claire and staying behind to keep an eye on Maisie. He refused to bring her along and put her in even more danger. He knew she'd be safe at camp, despite the fact that not much remained. After a good five minutes of pacing back and forth, he asked Franklin and Zia (despite the fact that he was still mad at her) if they could keep an eye on Maisie while he was gone. He promised Maisie he'd be back soon and she made him promise he'd bring Claire back in one piece. Of course he'd bring Claire back in one piece.

It was raining by the time he set off in his car to the top of the slope where Claire had last been seen. He walked it down, slowly enough so he wouldn't break his ankle or fall on his face, his rifle slung over his shoulder. He had a handgun strapped to his thigh and a few tranqs in the inside of his boots. He also carried a few knifes, just in case.

Once he arrived down the slope, he wasn't able to find her footprints because of the thick forest foliage. He did his best to look everywhere with his flashlight. At least he didn't find her body. Somehow, it wasn't making him feel any better. He didn't dare call her name though. He tried his best not to imagine her eaten by dinosaurs, or to think about the last thing she had said to him. But his mind couldn't help but wonder as he looked around in the dead of night, hurrying up because the rain would erase her footprints if he wasn't fast enough.

He managed to reach the river but unfortunately, he didn't have any more luck there. As he was about to turn around and go back to his car since there was nothing else he could do, he noticed a large footprint that hadn't been erased by the rain yet. It was much bigger than a human shoe and deeper as well. He would recognize the tracks of a Velociraptor anywhere and he shuddered. Despite how much he trusted Blue, he shuddered at the thought of Claire facing the Raptor alone.


	8. Chapter 8

When Claire came to, she was confused.

Firstly, because she didn't remember passing out in the first place and the thought alone scared her. Secondly, because she could remember clearly why she found herself alone in a forest. And thirdly, because before she had passed out, she was following a dinosaur that could decide to eat her at any given moment.

She sighed as she sat and took in her environment. She was still in the forest and she could hear the river, which meant that she had passed out shortly after they deviated from it the day before. The sun was already up, but she couldn't tell what time it was because the sky was mostly hidden by the tall trees.

And Blue was gone.

Claire stared in disbelief at the empty space in front of her, noticing a place on the ground where the leaves seemed flat, as if a large animal had laid down. Claire almost wanted to laugh when she thought that Blue might have curled next to her. The Velociraptor could as well have left when she passed out for all Claire knew, but it seemed it wasn't the case. She was certain Owen would swoon at the thought of Blue cuddling with her.

She checked herself for injuries when she was certain she wasn't in any immediate danger. Besides being hungrier with every passing hour and still a bit tired, Claire seemed to be fine. She was anxious to go back to camp, first to see Owen, Maisie and her friends again, but also to make sure her baby was alright. She hadn't really thought about motherhood, but she'd do anything to prevent the loss of her baby.

She didn't really know if she should wait for Blue, if the raptor was actually coming back. Blue could have abandoned her for all she knew, but the minute she thought about that, she heard footsteps coming closer and branches creaking. Then Blue emerged from between the trees and promptly dropped something right in front of Claire.

She almost gagged at the smell.

At her feet laid a dead fawn.

Claire stepped back and covered her nose with her hands. "Oh my god! Blue!" The raptor looked at her, its head cocked to the side as if expecting Claire to eat it. When she didn't move, Blue grabbed a piece and just ate it and Claire stepped back even more and emptied what little was left in her stomach on the roots of a nearby tree.

When Blue realized Claire wouldn't eat, she ate most of the fawn herself but made sure to leave a small piece for Claire. She even nudged her shoulder with her blood covered snout. "Thanks Blue, but I can't eat raw meat like that. You can eat the rest if you want." But Blue didn't touch what was left.

When Claire was back after drinking some water, Blue slowly approached her head, making those purring noises. Claire gently lifted her hand like she had seen Owen do and let Blue touch her first, before she slowly stroked the scaly snout. Despite the scales, it was softer than what Claire had expected and she found herself smiling. But then Blue ever so slowly moved her head to her stomach and sniffed a few times. Claire's theory on the pheromones seemed to be right. Knowing how acute Blue's sense of smell was, she had probably guessed that Claire was pregnant with Owen's child, that she actually was the alpha-mate.

But they couldn't stay like that forever and Blue eventually walked away a few feet and called out to Claire in that high-pitched call she had used when she communicated with her sisters. "Alright, I'm coming." Somehow, talking to a raptor as if they could understand each other became totally normal.

Claire got to her feet, brushed the dirt off her clothes and followed Blue deeper into the forest, leaving the carcass of the fawn behind and hoping they would end up at camp sooner than later.


	9. Chapter 9

Owen woke up so suddenly he almost bumped his head against the car window. Zia had offered them a place to sleep when they manage to salvage some of the tents, but Owen refused. He felt more comfortable in his car, more protected and he could fume all he wanted in there without anyone bothering him too much. He checked that Maisie was still sleeping in the backseat before he made his way out of the car. It was day already and they had no time to lose.

The bulky man from the previous day, whose name was Jeff, had agreed to gather up a team in the morning to look for Claire. Jeff had told him that he didn't like Claire at first, that he thought she was just another one of those activists that would get in his way. But he had learned to know her, had seen her in the field and had actually listened to what she had to say. She did her best to help out at camp and he had to admit that she knew what she was doing. She may not be an expert markswoman nor was she a veterinarian, but she knew her dinosaurs, knew how people worked and what made them tick, knew how to handle herself in stressful situations and above all, knew how to manage a team, or an entire camp, of any size.

Jeff was already up and handed Owen a map of the surrounding forest without even a glance. Owen appreciated the lack of pleasantries and buried himself in the study of the map, trying to determine the best way to scout the area. It would still take them quite some time to go through all those acres of land. Owen feared Claire didn't have that kind of time. What if she was injured or dying somewhere? There was nothing more he could do to help her. He couldn't find her alone, he knew that. But he hated to feel so helpless. He was supposed to help her in situations like these; he promised he'd keep her safe. Claire, of course, being the badass she was simply scoffed when Owen had mentioned it, but he had meant every word. He'd truly take a bullet for her.

Slowly, more people woke up until everyone that was supposed to help was awake. After a quick breakfast, that Owen ate only to please Maisie, they set off to look for Claire. The worst part, besides not knowing her whereabouts was not being able to predict what she'd do. Owen knew she'd try to reach the camp, but he didn't know how familiar she was with this forest, if she could even walk, let alone find the right way to go. They could also walk right past her, barely a few yards away and they might not even be able to find her.

Suffice to say, Owen was tense.

They looked for her for hours, tried to predict which way she would go, trying to comb through the forest as effectively as possible. They started at the place where she was last seen and built up a perimeter from there, they followed the river. If Owen was being honest, they weren't enough in the search party for such a large portion of ground. Franklin, Zia and Maisie had stayed behind, the first one because Zia was simply not letting him go anywhere except to a hospital with that concussion, Zia was playing resident doctor and Maisie was simply too young and defenseless. Besides, someone needed to stay at camp in case Claire managed to find her way back.

Every single time someone grumbled something about going back or that they'd never find her and might as well consider her dead, Owen would glared at them so murderously that they wouldn't dare look him in the eye afterwards. Jeff had promised they'd look until they found her or until it was dark and it became too dangerous. And so, they kept looking, hour after hour, acre after acre.

But as the sun was starting to set, Owen's hopes wavered.


	10. Chapter 10

The more Claire walked, the more tired she felt. Her stomach was growling and she hoped the pain she was feeling in her belly was simply due to her hunger and had nothing to do with her baby. The more they walked, the more times they had to stop, Claire needing a break. She trusted Blue, therefore she had said nothing when they stopped following the river, but she was also starting to get dehydrated.

It had rained the night before. Claire hadn't realized that because she was mostly dry when she woke up, right before Blue brought her the dead fawn, but now, she could feel how the rain had taken its toll on her. She was shivering, probably because of the cold, maybe because of the dehydration, maybe because of the exhaustion.

Blue also seemed more eager with every passing hour and a little bit more restless. She was now almost growling at Claire whenever she needed a break, as if something was chasing them and they needed to get out of there. Claire had no idea where they were anymore, since Blue had changed directions a few times, sniffing the air and adjusting their trajectory. To where? Claire had no clue, but she hoped it was the camp.

Claire's legs burned and she was barely able to see the swishing of Blue's tail in front of her, the blue stripe being her anchor and the only thing she could still focus her mind on. Then suddenly Blue stopped, growled and sniffed the air, her whole body tense as if she was about to pounce. If Claire didn't pay attention, she would have slammed right into her rear.

"What is it?" she asked tiredly. Blue turned to her, blinked a few times and purred, before she sped in the opposite direction, quickly disappearing between the trees. Claire could hear the soft noises of her feet for a few more seconds before the eerie silence of the forest took over.

She was dumfounded and just stood there for a solid minute, not registering what had just happened. Then she heard a distance noise, like a call and turned in that direction. The trees were sparser in this part of the forest, easily allowing her to see a good hundred feet in front of her. She didn't move and waited for the call to happen again. This time, it rang more clearly. Although she couldn't quite make out what was being shouted, it sounded like someone's name.

She started slowly walking towards the noise when she saw a human silhouette appear on the horizon, then another until she was looking at an entire group of people. And then one of them started running towards her, gun swinging wildly on their shoulders, his feet making a raucous, even on the soft forest floor.

Owen barely managed to slow down in front of Claire when he pulled her strongly in his arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and let the tears fall for the first time since this whole nightmare began. She could also hear him cry, as he stroked her knotted hair and whispered soft promises with the gentle kisses he left on the top of her head.

They stayed like that until she couldn't stand up anymore and he scooped her in his arms. It worried him that she didn't protest at all. He didn't like how frail she looked, or how much she was trembling. He didn't ask her anything besides where it hurt or if something hurt at all. The only thing Claire accepted was a bottle of water but she could barely muster the energy to take a few sips before she passed out.

She was quickly whisked away to the nearest hospital that was still functioning, and Owen stayed with her at all times, growling at people who told him to leave. Claire woke up for the exams and was out like a light the minute she was released from the hospital. But since the doctors said she just had a cold and that the baby was fine, Owen didn't complain. Zia made sure Franklin was taken care of by driving him to his dad's place, but she dropped Maisie off at Claire's apartment. The girl did everything Owen told her to do, helping him take care of Claire until she recovered. It was a slow process, but after a couple of days of strict bed rest and healthy food, Claire was finally feeling like herself again.


	11. Chapter 11

"So a baby, huh?" Owen asked besides Claire.

She was curled into his side on their bed and he was watching their intertwined fingers, raising both their hands to have a better look. Maisie was sound asleep in her own bed, in her own room (something Claire insisted she had from the day they adopted her, to give her some privacy but also to normalize their parent-child relationship). Claire smiled softly.

"I'm sorry I dropped this the way I did. I shouldn't have done it over the phone, but I wanted you to know as soon as possible and I called you right after I took the test… or once the Pachys had left the camp."

Owen kissed her hand and stroked her hair. "I know and I'm not mad, although that was one hell of a way to announce it. How far along are you?"

"Eight weeks."

Owen smiled. "We're keeping it right?" She looked at him and he grinned. "'Cause I have already ordered a _"Best sister in the world"_ shirt for Maisie and…"

Claire snickered. "Of course you did." She sighed peacefully and nuzzled even more into Owen's side, his arm automatically tightening its hold on her. It was crazy how relaxed he made her feel just by holding her in his arms. "When I was all alone out there in the forest, I promised our unborn child that if we both made it out alive, I'd do everything in my power to keep it and protect it. So yes, I'd like to keep it."

Claire saw Owen's eyes water slightly, the pupils shiny with emotion but he simply kissed her instead of saying something. She had told him about Blue, how she had reacted to Claire's presence and pregnancy, how she probably saved her life by leading her back towards Owen.

When Claire announced the news to Karen and her boys, she almost lost her hearing. Karen actually squealed so loudly that Owen heard her from the other side of the living room. She insisted to come and visit the next weekend along with the boys. Zach was finishing his bachelor's degree and Gray had just finished high school, but both boys insisted they came as well. Owen's family was notified too and so was Iris, who was living in a small apartment in Chicago ever since the death of Benjamin Lockwood.

They had a lot to figure out, as partners, lovers, adults and parents, but they would do it all together. Claire hadn't given birth to Maisie, but the girl was as much their daughter as the baby would be their child. And Maisie immediately declared that she would help them raise the baby.

Really, they were fine.

THE END


End file.
